Switching video cards

[Getback]

Can't decide whether I should use my ATI Radeon 3870 from the other computer or keep the one I'm using in my gaming computer which is a ATI 3850. The computer with the 3870 seems just a hair more crispy and does not seem to have any blurring. But then again I haven't tested it in aces high.

I'm getting a lot of blurring. I'm not sure why. It started with the new monitor. My thoughts are it is not quite set up correctly. Any help would be welcomed.

[BaldEagl]

It's probably the monitor response rate which there's nothing you can do about.

At 24" is is 8ms?  If so you'll have to learn to live with it.  That's why I stayed with 22" (2ms response).

[Getback]

Baldegle, allegedly it is 2ms. I run it at 1920 x 1200 resolution and 60 hz refresh.

[Fulmar]

If you read some technical reviews of a lot of brands of LCD's, you'll find that response times are measured by the manufacturer and not based on a industry standard test.  I recall an article a year or so ago on Tomshardware where they tested a slew of "5ms" response time LCD's.  Some tested in the 20ms range.

On my home setup, I run my 20" Viewsonic with a 5ms response time next to my 4+ year old Hercules Prophetview with a 20ms response time.  A 15ms difference is noticeable.  3ms or 6ms, no so sure...

[doc1kelley]

Can't decide whether I should use my ATI Radeon 3870 from the other computer or keep the one I'm using in my gaming computer which is a ATI 3850. The computer with the 3870 seems just a hair more crispy and does not seem to have any blurring. But then again I haven't tested it in aces high.

I'm getting a lot of blurring. I'm not sure why. It started with the new monitor. My thoughts are it is not quite set up correctly. Any help would be welcomed.

I am running two Radeon 3870's in crossfire mode on a 24" Acer P243W 2ms monitor and frankly it's crisp, clean, and fast at 1920X1200 60mhz.  I am running hi-res texture pack and almost all detail full max.  I upgraded from a NEC multi-sync 19 inch LCD and the only problem is getting used to the expanded detail and area.    Things look much closer than they used to.  I am running Omega Drivers without the CCC control panel but with Ray Adams ATI Tray Tools.  You must run your resolution on your vid cards the same as the resolution of the LCD monitor for best results.

All the Best...

   Jay
 awDoc1

[Getback]

AWDoc, I would be interested in all your settings. I have the exact same monitor. Are the omega drivers and Ray Adams ATI tray tool better than CCC and the original drivers? I am still getting blurring. However it is better than before. It really only happens if I pan. Once I'm in full contact it seems to dissipate. My Monitor and card are both set at 60 hz. I have an 3870 in my other computer and am using the 3850 in this one. I also have the other PCI-e interface occupied with a sound card. So no go on the dual cards. I was tempted to get another 3850 or 3870 today. They are now around 120 bucks.

Thanks for the info.

[doc1kelley]

AWDoc, I would be interested in all your settings. I have the exact same monitor. Are the omega drivers and Ray Adams ATI tray tool better than CCC and the original drivers? I am still getting blurring. However it is better than before. It really only happens if I pan. Once I'm in full contact it seems to dissipate. My Monitor and card are both set at 60 hz. I have an 3870 in my other computer and am using the 3850 in this one. I also have the other PCI-e interface occupied with a sound card. So no go on the dual cards. I was tempted to get another 3850 or 3870 today. They are now around 120 bucks.

Thanks for the info.

Yes the Omega drivers and Ray Adams ATI Tray tools are much better than the CCC as it has to run in the background and is a .net program.  Lower overhead.  I too have a PCI-E sound card.  I believe that the X-fi extreme audio is the only one out right now that will use PCI-E slot.  My motherboard will support 4 PCI-E cards.  My settings are pretty standard as this is still a fairly new machine.  1920 X 1200 with Anti-alaising at 4x and anistropic filtering at 4x and Verticle Sync ON.    The omega drivers are an older version that are tweaked but are not the from the 8 series but CCC is nothing but a resource hog.  I've had no blurring or "ghosting" as it is referred to in anything that I've run yet.  I'm still looking for the best settings myself as I ran nvidia cards for years before this rig.  ATI cards have always been a slight step behind the Nvidia cards in performance but for color they've always been better but I've not had an ATI card since the old 9800 series.  You can get the omega drivers at http://www.omegadrivers.net

Oh almost forgot... I hope you aren't using the DVI to VGA setup as it will definately cause "Ghosting".  You should use either the dvi to dvi setup or the dvi to HDMI setup.

I hope this helps ya out!

All the Best...
    Jay
 awDoc1

[Krusty]

Ghosting is when the pixels leave a trail after the color changes. Like the mouse trail option under windows, sorta.

That will only be caused by an LCDs response time. Mine is terrible. I'm used to it now, after more than a year of constant play, but it still is noticable.

The VGA->DVI adapter will probably cause a drop in quality, a small delay (micro seconds) in display, but it won't really cause ghosting, exactly. Main issue for me is that it's taking a digital signal from the card, converting to analog for the cable, then converting back to digital at the monitor... It's like making a zerox of a fax, when you can just take the original and use that instead. 

Hence why I like DVI->DVI for LCDs.

[Fulmar]

Originally when I bought my second LCD, my current Viewsonic, it only came with a VGA cable (no DVI, but had the plug).  The first week I had it I noticed a 'waving' of lines  towards the top and bottom of the screen, a jittering if you will.  Only noticeable when your face is within 6 inches of the screen.  So I ordered a $7 DVI cable from Newegg...problem fixed.

[Getback]

Yes the Omega drivers and Ray Adams ATI Tray tools are much better than the CCC as it has to run in the background and is a .net program.  Lower overhead.  I too have a PCI-E sound card.  I believe that the X-fi extreme audio is the only one out right now that will use PCI-E slot.  My motherboard will support 4 PCI-E cards.  My settings are pretty standard as this is still a fairly new machine.  1920 X 1200 with Anti-alaising at 4x and anistropic filtering at 4x and Verticle Sync ON.    The omega drivers are an older version that are tweaked but are not the from the 8 series but CCC is nothing but a resource hog.  I've had no blurring or "ghosting" as it is referred to in anything that I've run yet.  I'm still looking for the best settings myself as I ran nvidia cards for years before this rig.  ATI cards have always been a slight step behind the Nvidia cards in performance but for color they've always been better but I've not had an ATI card since the old 9800 series.  You can get the omega drivers at http://www.omegadrivers.net

Oh almost forgot... I hope you aren't using the DVI to VGA setup as it will definately cause "Ghosting".  You should use either the dvi to dvi setup or the dvi to HDMI setup.

I hope this helps ya out!

All the Best...

Thanks AWdoc. I'm using DVI.

Do you use 1920 x 1200 in the game. I just switched the game to that and it seemed eliminate blurring. My desktop and graphics cards are both set to that.
    Jay
 awDoc1

[doc1kelley]

Yes, I'm running 1920x1200 in game with 1024 texture setting with the HI-Res pack.  I truely love this monitor but I'm still trying to get comfortable with all the extra territory that I have to look at.  Gunnery has suffered greatly and I still try and lead based on my 19" settings that I've used for years. lol

All the Best...
    Jay
  awDoc1

[drdeathx]

I am running 2 3870 512 crossfired and getting between 80 and 250 fps with anti alias on around medium. I run hi res pack and graphics are crisp/ I would look into ati 4870 the 512 ddr 4 cards are around $230 the ddr 3 are $200. They are supposed to be awesome and you can cross fire it with your 3870 as long as you have 2 16x pci slots.

[1701E]

I would look into ati 4870 the 512 ddr 4 cards are around $230 the ddr 3 are $200. They are supposed to be awesome and you can cross fire it with your 3870 as long as you have 2 16x pci slots.

The ATI Radeon 4870 and ATI Radeon 3870 are not capable of Crossfire together.

"-ATI official-

Despite previous reports on the internet that old Radeon 38x0 and new Radeon 48x0 cards will work in Crossfire together, unfortunately this won't happen.

Two senior software guys at ATI has just confirmed that 3800 series in Crossfire with 4800 won't work and that such a configuration is not supported.


You won't be able to match the generations and we are investigating if you will be able to mix cards from 48x0 series. We believe you should, but we won’t jump the gun with this announcement.

Sorry for destroying one cool dream, but you will have to forget about your 38x0 card and swap it for a much faster 48x0 generation.

At the same time, our friend W1zzard from tech power up has confirmed that he couldn't make 3800 and 4800 generation cards work together in XP, but now we know the answer why. It won't work on XP or Vista, simply as it's not supported. "